Friday, February 16, 2007

This was officially my second coldest bike commute. It was 3 Degrees Fahrenheit this morning when I left. As usual, I stayed plenty warm but I took it slow to keep from sweating too much. I made it to the bus stop in 18 minutes, which is a dead-on 10 MPH average.

I had to fight with the bike rack on the bus. The release lever wouldn't disengage at first, so I had to he-man it. Once the bike rack dropped, I put my bike in the rack then went to pull the arm that holds the front wheel down and it wouldn't pull out. I went to the other side and after a lot of tugging, got the other arm to pull out. Then, I had to take my bike out of the rack, turn it around the other way, put it in the other bike rack slot, and latch it in.

As much as this cold doesn't bother me, being encumbered in layers of clothing is getting a bit old, as is riding my sluggish mountain bike. Don't get me wrong, I love the Sorrento. I just don't love commuting on a heavy bike with ginormous, low-pressure knobby tires. In weather like this, the tire pressure drops even further. I keep them pumped up to 65 PSI in my apartment (that's their max pressure) after the bike has acclimated to room temperature. Out in the cold, though, the tire pressure quickly drops to as low as 30 PSI as the air density increases. Pumping up the tires in the cold would be a bad idea, as 50 PSI cold would probably climb to 90+ PSI once it got back to room temperature. This would certainly blow a tire out.

The forecast for early next week shows temps in the 50's. I'm pretty sure it's time to get the Outlook prepped for daily use again. It's been sitting dormant for more than a month now. It will be nice to get back out on it. While the Sorrento is more comfortable for me to ride, the Outlook is lighter, nimbler, and faster.

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